The Battle of the 'Reputations'
by thethingthathasnoname
Summary: When Jackie insults Hyde and insinuates that she thinks she's too cool for him, Hyde makes it his mission - because he's bored and he enjoys annoying people and ruining their lives, totally not because he cares or anything... whatever - to prove that she's not too cool for him and to ruin her reputation if she is. What he doesn't expect is for Jackie to fight back.
1. Scene 1

"I can't believe my Daddy is saying he's too busy to pick me up from cheer practice tomorrow…" Jackie moaned for what must've been the tenth time that hour, her annoyingly shrill and whiny voice piercing through Hyde's brain like one of those scarily sharp, shiny hairpins she wears. She was _really_ starting to grate on his nerves.

Actually, starting was an understatement.

Hyde didn't think Jackie had ever _not_ got on his nerves.

"Would you just shut up about that already?" Donna thankfully came to his rescue. God bless Donna, man.

"No, Donna! You don't understand! This is a crisis! What am I meant to do?" Jackie's voice appeared to have gone up an octave. Hyde felt like someone was drilling through his skull with a pink, glitter drill.

"You could walk? Like everyone else does?" Donna suggested.

Jackie gave her a withering stare. "Don't be as stupid as you look in that headscarf, Donna. _I_ don't walk. I'm _better_ than everyone else. Walking is for poor, unpopular people who don't wear expensive shoes."

"Just get your mum to give you a lift?" Fez chipped in.

"Fez. Come on. It's 5 in the afternoon, Mum won't be sober… er... available." Jackie stumbled over her words, flushing somewhat, before attempting to continue like nothing had happened. "And besides, Daddy drives the Lincoln." She finished, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Well, Eric could take you?" Donna offered, either because she felt bad about her mum or because she wanted this to all be over, Hyde couldn't quite tell.

"Er, no I can't, Donna… We've got that _thing_ remember?" Eric prompted, with a meaningful look.

Donna promptly blushed. "Oh yeh, sorry, Eric. Yeh, we've got a _thing_ , Jackie."

Ew, gross. Hyde didn't even want to think what that _thing_ could be.

"Well, I'm not taking her." Kelso stated.

"But Kelso…" Jackie fluttered her stupidly long lashes at him.

Ah, Hyde realised, this was what all that complaining had actually been about. She wants time alone with Kelso, in his van. The poor girl. He's far too naïve to ever get that message. He should've known that there would be an ulterior motive. Jackie always had an ulterior motive. It may be the only thing he liked… tolerated… about her.

"No, Jackie. We're not together anymore which means I don't have to be your taxi service."

"Fine." Jackie huffed, breathing loudly and crossing her arms across her chest.

Hyde couldn't help but notice how that gesture pushed her boobs up, now more prominent against her sweater than they were before.

Oh, come on, he was a guy and Jackie was hot, what was he supposed to do? Not look?

Silence fell on the basement.

Ah, Hyde internally sighed, peace at last.

"I just _can't_ believe my Daddy won't pick me up from cheer practice tomorrow!"

"Oh for Pete's sake, Jackie, I'll give you a bleeding lift if you shut the hell up!"

Hyde only realised he was the one saying the words when it was too late.

Jackie turned to stare at him, disbelief written all over her face.

Hyde glared back determinedly from behind his sunglasses.

"Why?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. "Are you going to egg the cheer squad or something?"

"No." Hyde scowled. "Although thanks for the idea. I've never egged a cheerleader before."

"Then why…?"

"To get you to shut your bleeding pie hole, that's why."

Hyde was seriously regretting even coming to the basement with the gang today. He should've stayed with his school crew under the bleachers smoking pot.

Jackie seemed to consider it for a moment. Hyde just wanted this all to be over.

"No thanks." She said eventually. "I'd rather walk."

"BURN!" Kelso exploded at the same time that most other people, including Hyde went "What?!"

"Oh, come on, Hyde. I'd get laughed out of cheer squad. I can't be seen with someone like you. People might think we're…" she shivered and then whispered as though it was a dirty word "together."

"Hey!" Hyde protested, on the verge of actually showing some emotion for once. "What do you mean by 'someone like me'?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Hyde. That you're, you know, scruffy and smelly and poor and I'm, you know, me! Popular and cool and rich." Jackie shrugged her shallow little shoulders.

"Let me get this straight. You," Hyde stood up from his chair and pointed at Jackie, gesturing to her stupid, fluffy, pink sweater that made it look like she was 7 not 17. "Think you're too cool, for me?" Hyde didn't quite gesture to himself but everyone knew what he was referring to. Standing there in his sunglasses, leather jacket, combat boots and Led Zeppelin t-shirt, he was pretty much the definition of '70s effortless 'cool' – much to Kelso's annoyance.

"Yes, Hyde. You would ruin my reputation!" Sometimes Jackie amazed Hyde with how she could ignore any insinuations that she didn't want to hear.

Hyde smirked and plonked himself down on the couch next to her, pushing Donna and Forman out of the way, snaking one arm around her shoulders while his other hand crept up her thigh.

"And we wouldn't want that now would we?" he breathed into her face.

"Ugh… Hyde, get away from me. You smell and you're infecting me with grossness!" Jackie shrieked, jumping to her feet. "Ew, now I have to go shopping to make this day good again."

And with that she stormed out of the basement.

Hyde chuckled under his breath, smirk still planted firmly on his face.

"You're gonna go and pick her up from cheer practice, aren't you?" Fez questioned after a brief silence.

"Oh yes, my foreign friend, oh yes." Hyde grinned.

And to think, he had almost regretted coming to the basement today. This was going to be fun.


	2. Scene 2

All things considered, Jackie felt that cheer practice was going well today. Her cartwheels and kicks were spot on, her smile was plastered perfectly onto her face, and her hair was looking flawless in the light breeze. She wasn't looking forward to her walk home, but she was keeping her mind off of such awful things by throwing herself fully into the routine.

It was almost at the end of practice now, the dreaded moment where no car would pull up for her, like it would for all the other girls, looming. And she would have to admit that no one was coming for her and she was… walking.

Ugh it was too tragic to even think about!

She was broken out of her internal anguish by someone shouting her name. She looked up hurriedly, worried that she had messed up the moves and Michelle, the cheer captain, would be mad. However, none of the girls were looking at her, they were all looking over to the parking lot.

Jackie turned when she heard her name again.

"Jackie!" Steven Hyde yelled from his shabby, black 1967 El Camino, pulling up as close to the pitch as possible and hooting his horn loudly for effect. "Babe!"

Jackie's face paled. She felt sick.

"Oh my… Jackie, is that… Steven Hyde?" Kimberly asked, eyes wide.

"Are you… dating him, Jackie?" Tracy stared at her.

Jackie was seriously going to kill him.

"No, we are not dating." Jackie said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"Then what's he doing here, Jackie?" Courtney questioned her, borderline aggressively. "Is he giving you a ride home? 'Cos that definitely means you're dating him…"

"No it doesn't! And we're definitely not dating! He's just doing it to annoy me…" Jackie scowled; why did Hyde have to be like this?

"Oh my god, Jackie! That means he likes you!" Mindy exclaimed.

"No, it doesn't. He does it to everyone. This is what he does for fun." Jackie rolled her eyes. "Just ignore him girls."

More horn hooting and name calling from Hyde. The girls were staring at him, transfixed as though in a trance. They'd probably never seen someone as rough as Hyde in their lives that they didn't just ignore in the school corridors.

"Come on, girls, let's just carry on. He'll get bored eventually." Jackie insisted.

"Oh, Jackie, you know you can't ignore me for long." Hyde taunted.

"Oh my god! Shut _up_ , Hyde!" she shouted back, and immediately berated herself for even acknowledging his presence.

"That's not what you said last night, babe!" Hyde yelled back.

All the girls immediately burst into over-exaggerated giggles, shrieking their heads off. This was probably the most fun they'd had all week… probably even all month.

"You know, when you were screaming my name…" Hyde moaned explicitly for effect.

"Oh my God, you are dating Steven Hyde!" Kimberly squawked.

Jackie, by now, was bright red. "HYDE GO AWAY!" she screeched as a chorus of "Jackie and Steven Hyde sitting in a tree" broke out behind her.

Unable to face the humiliation, she stormed over to the car.

"What do I have to do to get you to stop?" she demanded, angrily.

"Oh yeah, babe, beg me." Hyde jeered, louder than necessary for the sake of the audience.

"Hyde!" Jackie slapped him on the arm.

"I love it when you fight dirty..." Hyde smirked.

He was enjoying this way too much.

"Ugh you are so gross!" Jackie exclaimed, and throwing her hands up in despair, she turned around, intending to storm off to the changing rooms to get her stuff and get out of here.

"Yes, baby, shake that ass in that tiny, little cheerleader skirt!" Hyde heckled after her.

She swung around, anger flaring up in her once again, just in time to catch Hyde's eyes flitting up from her butt to meet her eyes.

So he actually had been checking her out.

Interesting.

She decided to file that information for later examination and/or blackmail, and instead began marching back towards the car to give him a piece of her mind.

However, as soon as he saw her approaching, he dropped her a vulgar wink and sped away in his stupid car, disappearing out the school gates.

Jackie stared after him; sometimes she hated Steven Hyde and sometimes she _really_ hated Steven Hyde. And this was one of those times when she wished she could just get her Daddy to ship him off somewhere far, far, far away from here and from her. One of those times she wished that just once she could have the upper hand in a fight with him. One of those times she wished he simply didn't exist at all. One of those time that she really _really_ hated him.

Turning on her heel and trying her absolute hardest to hold her head up high, she flounced back past all the snickering cheerleaders, and into the changing rooms.

* * *

Jackie emerged from the changing rooms around 10 minutes later having brushed her hair, touched up her make-up and pulled on a jumper, all the while being constantly bombarded with stupid questions and comments from the bunch of blabbering baboons she called her, albeit somewhat bitchy and shallow, friends. She'd had to put up with Courtney stage whispering "Did he just dump her?" And Mindy adding "How embarrassing was that?" not even bothering with a stage whisper. Dreading the walk home and the gossiping that was undoubtedly going to follow her for the next few days like the stench of a musty, old perfume, she at first didn't notice the scruffy, black El Camino pulled up haphazardly in the middle of the parking lot, causing havoc for all the other cars trying to pick up the rest of the cheer squad.

When she did notice it however, she almost stopped in her tracks, and approached it with caution. Was he just here to tease her and then dash off to embarrass her again?

Hesitantly, she opened the passenger door and leant inside.

"Oh hi Jackie," Hyde said pleasantly looking over at her, as if their interaction not 10 minutes ago hadn't happened. "Fancy seeing you here."

"What are you doing here, Hyde?" Jackie sighed, fed up.

"I thought you said you wanted a lift home?" Hyde replied, still feigning innocence.

Oh for…

Jackie took a deep breath. She knew if she caused a scene, he would twist it to his advantage.

Well, if he was going to play this game, then so would she.

"Thank you, Hyde, that would be most kind of you." She replied, surprising even herself at how steady and polite her voice sounded, no matter how forced it might be.

She climbed into the passenger seat, closed the door and looked at him expectantly, only the slightest hint of triumph rising in her heart like a hot air balloon when she noticed the look of mild shock on his usually unreadable face.

This quickly changed however, as he played the situation back into his own court by putting his arm around her shoulders, much to the amusement of the whooping and cheering crowd of teenage whores outside.

"Until next time, ladies." He smirked and stepped on the gas.

As soon as they were out of the gates and the eye-line of their adoring audience, he sighed, and Jackie was worried, for a split second, that he was about to kick her out of his car, but he just shrugged and said "Guess I actually have to drive you home now?"

"Yep." She stated, as offhandedly as she could manage.

He grunted and her insides erupted into the most enthusiastic and daring cheer routine she had ever imagined. She had finally got one-up on Steven Hyde.

And, she told herself firmly, this feeling of euphoria and success had nothing to do with the fact he still had his arm around her.


	3. Scene 3

Hyde sauntered into school the next day with his usual swagger. Sunglasses worn inside, leather jacket, rock band t-shirt and big, black, leather boots. Nothing could touch him.

He refused to accept the possibility that Jackie might have one-upped him yesterday after cheer practice. Damn, he should've just driven off when he did the first time. This was supposed to be _his_ game, _his_ mindless fun.

He also refused to remember how grateful and almost relieved she had looked when he'd actually driven her home and dropped her off in front of her mansion.

He _also_ refused to remember the flush that had risen to her cheeks when she'd first realised exactly who was in the parking lot calling her name, or the way that she had looked completely appalled at all the scandalous shit he was jeering at her, _or_ the way she had smoothed over her expressions with a skill almost as impressive as his own when he'd played her by returning the second time.

And he _definitely_ refused to remember the way her ass looked in that ridiculously tiny cheerleading skirt. Because, seriously, why would they wear such short skirts if they didn't want guys to look. Not that he was looking. At all. Ugh. No way.

Fez was jabbering away at his side, asking whether he'd actually gone to pick Jackie up yesterday, asking how it had gone, asking whether there were any girls there that he thought would do it with him. Asking whether Jackie was embarrassed, whether the cheer squad thought they were dating, whether it was romantic.

Hyde responded, as he always did, minimally. A nod here, a shrug there; just enough to keep the interest of the other person in the conversation, but not enough to have to actively put in any actual effort.

Then they rounded a corner, and there she was.

Need he even say who _she_ was?

Jackie.

In a tight little miniskirt and low-cut top.

One of his favourite Jackie outfits.

Not that he liked to imagine Jackie in any outfit.

Not that he imagined Jackie at all.

Or payed any attention to her.

Or her clothes.

Ever.

Ew.

He was getting distracted.

Ignoring Fez's ignorant rambling and then excited prattling when he noticed what Hyde had already noticed for a good few minutes, Hyde strolled over to Jackie, who was, oh so conveniently, surrounded by several girls from the cheerleading squad. He didn't know their names, and he didn't care; he simply referred to them as short blonde, average brunette, redhead, tall blonde and tall brunette – short brunette, of course, being reserved for Jackie.

Not that he liked the fact that she was short.

Not that he even noticed the fact that he towered a good head over her.

Not at all.

He shook his head clear of these sleep-deprived, probably drug-induced, straight-up, downright delirious thoughts, and ambled towards his target, a self-satisfied smirk already fixed on his face as a plan formed in his mind. Man, he'd like to see her try and get one-up on him ever again.

When he reached their little gaggle, he snaked his arm around Jackie's waist from behind, and pulled her sharply against his body. He had to bend a little to whisper into her ear "Mornin', babe."

She, not unexpectedly, jumped a mile into the air and shrieked "What the…?!"

Spinning around to confront her intruder, she came to face to face with Hyde and he could tell she was momentarily caught off guard, having clearly not expected the events from yesterday to continue into today.

Well, Hyde thought, ensuring to keep his arm firmly around her waist even now they were face to face, she should have expected it, considering that she had left the situation yesterday on the possibility – and note Hyde said possibility because there's no way that she actually did – that she had gotten the upper hand and the last laugh and all that nonsense.

"How are you today, hot stuff?" Hyde rumbled seductively, fully aware that the girls Jackie had previously talking to were listening intently, already tittering with excitement.

"Hyde, get off of me." Jackie whispered dangerously into his ear.

"Or what?" Hyde goaded, murmuring right back, high on the feeling of being in control of the situation once again.

And this whole pissing Jackie off so she flushed and crossed her arms which, as previously established, somewhat improved the whole boob visibility situation, was just an added bonus.

Plus, he just enjoyed ruining peoples' days – especially spoilt, little, midget brats like Jackie.

"Or… or… I'll… I'lll…" Jackie stuttered and stumbled.

Hyde smirked and moved in closer, forcing her to back against the lockers while he caged her in with his arms. He knew to anyone else but them, and especially to their spectators behind them, it would look like a romantic moment.

"Or you'll what?" he murmured, ensuring to look her up and down, purely to see her squirm under his gaze and for no gain of his own. Not at all to see the way her boobs looked in that low-cut top that he was now close enough to see down. Or anything like that.

"Or you don't even _want_ to know what I'll do." Jackie finished lamely and Hyde just chuckled throatily.

Did he just imagine it, or did Jackie actually appear to shiver at the sound of his voice?

Quickly pushing such an intriguing… no, disturbing… whatever… thought from his mind, he ploughed on, leaning closer ever so slowly, keeping eye contact the whole time. One of his hands that had previously been trapping her into his hold, moved to his waist, and travelled slowly down her hip, clearly heading towards her butt.

He was almost impressed with how much she could take of this.

She met his gaze steadily enough – which almost, _almost_ began to impress Hyde – although It must've been causing her agony, having such a scruffy guy like him with his dirty hands all over her – the pristine, little angel she thought herself to be.

Did her breath just hitch?

But he didn't have time to dwell on that prospect because suddenly, her hands, surprisingly strong for such a stupidly tiny girl, were shoving him backwards and off of her.

Only momentarily surprised, he quickly recovered his footing and his composure. Turning to face their adoring fans whose plucked and polished eyebrows were now raised in surprise, he crooned smoothly "Sorry, ladies. Didn't mean to interrupt."

He was met with a hasty round of "No worries, Steven Hyde." .

"The old girl clearly doesn't like too much PDA." Hyde pulled Jackie provokingly close to him again, his hand wrapped firmly around her waist. He could almost feel her grimace. "Don't worry Angel Legs, I'll bear it in mind for next time."

Jackie shrugged his arm off, and attempted to stalk away with a "Don't bother, Devil Spawn, there won't be a next time."

However, Hyde, this time determined to not be left with even the faintest inkling that she might have won the battle, slapped her on the ass before she could get too far away and jeered after her "Keep telling yourself that, darlin'."

Jackie, much to Hyde's surprise, and – he refused to call it admiration – simply flipped him off over her shoulder and carried on strutting down the corridor. Her brainless friends followed swiftly behind her, clearly more fascinated by the concept of gossip than the concern of actually getting to whatever possibly important class they had, and, he heard them nattering away the likes of "See, I told you they were dating" and "I don't know why she doesn't just admit it."

Hyde grinned; that would teach her to try to get the better of him.


	4. Scene 4

Jackie's brain had been in all over the place all day, working in overdrive: she kept losing focus in all her lessons, causing nearly every teacher to have to call her name twice in roll-call or shout exasperatedly at her if they wanted her to answer a question. It didn't help that when she was asked "What is wrong with you today, Jackie?", the girls around her would immediately respond with "She's love-sick, miss, it's not her fault" or "She's too busy thinking about Stevennn, sir."

And then they would all start snickering again, forcing her further into this whirlpool of angry crimson – they barely seemed to stop – and whisper "I can't believe she's dating Steven Hyde!" "He's such a slob!" "He's so scruffy!" "He's so rude!" "He's so violent!" "He's so unromantic!" "He's so poor!" "She must be getting really desperate to slum it like this – probably still heartbroken over Michael Kelso, too bad Kimberly's got her eye on him now."

Ugh! Her reputation was in shreds! She had to find a way to get back at him! If he thought this was over, then he had another thing coming! He should've known that scandals and schemes were _her_ territory!

Some people might say that she was perhaps obsessing over this a _little_.

But she thought she was obsessing over it just the right amount, thank you very much.

And it was around 4th period, right before lunch, when it came to her, like a glowing model flouncing down a catwalk, hair being blown in a light breeze, surrounded by stage smoke and shining lights. She grinned, this was _perfect_.

* * *

It was relatively easy to organise it over lunch; she'd had plenty of experience doing it with the other cheer girls to start rumours, and luckily the boy working the desk was nerdy and scrawny and immediately fell under her irresistible charms.

The scene was set, and she sat in her second class after lunch, the last lesson of the day, tapping her foot in increasing anticipation.

God, did she feel nervous? She'd done this a million times before! Why did it matter so much now?

Subconsciously, her mind flashed up the image of Hyde's face when she'd gotten into his car that time after cheer practice; how he'd looked when she'd done the unexpected and played him right back.

She was broken out of her reverie by a knock on the door and the receptionist, who usually brought round notices and lost property, calling her name. She looked over, using her best acting skills – gained from years on the cheerleading team, both on and off the pitch – to appear surprised to see a massive bouquet of flowers, a luxurious box of chocolates and an incredibly fluffy teddy bear, all accompanied by a pink card with her name on.

As they were being placed on her desk in front of her, she simpered "Are these for me?"

The receptionist just stated in a monotonous voice "Are you Jackie Burkhart?"

"The one and only." Jackie replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Then yes." The receptionist retorted, and left the classroom without another word.

The girls around her, almost all of which were on the cheer squad immediately leant over and started whispering to her.

"Are they from Steven, Jackie?"

"Open the card, Jackie!"

"Oh how romantic!"

"Isn't Steven Hyde _cute_!"

The teacher, a grumpy man with bad breath and trousers at least two sizes too small for him, attempted ineffectively to get the attention of the class back onto history, but he realised pretty soon it was a lost cause, and gave up, sitting down on his chair and sipping from a thermos flask, which, rumour had it, wasn't filled with tea or coffee.

Jackie, thoroughly enjoying the one-woman, Oscar-worthy show that no one but her knew she was performing, delicately picked up the card, and opened it with a deliberate slowness, causing the entire room – or at least those who mattered in it – to wait with bated breaths, hanging on her every movement.

She slid the card out; a ferociously pink number with red hearts and silver stars and the words 'I Love You' printed in garish, bold, bubble writing on the front.

"Awwwww" the girls around her whimpered.

"What does it say, Jackie?" Tammy gushed.

"Shut up, Tammy, and let her read it!" Courtney interjected.

A hush once again fell on the room as Jackie, again acting as though she had all the time in the world, opened the card and scanned down it with her eyes, even though she knew exactly what was going to be written there.

She put a hand to her heart and sighed dramatically, looking up at the crowd around her with her best puppy-dog-in-love eyes.

"Omg omg I can't bear it anymore!" Mindy squealed and grabbed the card from Jackie.

"Hey, Mindy, that's private!" Jackie half-heartedly protested, making a lazy lunge for it.

"To my dearest honey-bunny," Mindy read aloud dramatically. All the girls immediately "Awwwed".

Jackie pretended to blush and hide behind her hands to hide her forming grin.

"I know it's not your birthday, or Valentine's Day or Christmas, but every day feels like Christmas with you as my girlfriend," Mindy paused to mouth OMG before continuing with increasing excitement "And so I will dedicate each and every day to making you feel like the princess that you are to me. I love you, my little baby doll. You're so beautiful. More love, and lots of kisses, from your adoring puddin' pop, Steven."

The second she stopped reading it, Jackie snatched the card back under the pretence of wanting to keep it private, but was actually attempting to prevent anyone questioning the handwriting or realising the language usage really didn't sound like him one bit.

Around her, the girls were gushing "Oh my god, Jackie, Steven is soooo cute!" "He's soooo romantic!" "He's soooo sweet!" "He's soooo sensitive!" "He's soooo adorable like the little fluffy teddy bear he bought her!"

Jackie smiled quietly to herself, oh Hyde was going to hate this! He would rue the day that he ever messed with Jackie Burkhart.

The bell rang.

The teacher, who had just managed to drag himself back onto his pigeon-toed feet that were probably in desperate need of a pedicure, threw up his hands in mild despair, and announced "Class dismissed" before dropping back into the chair and taking a very long swig from his thermos.

The end of the day.

Immediately, the girls gathered round her. "Are you going to see Steven now, Jackie?" "What do you guys do together, Jackie?" "I think you should let him feed you chocolates while he gives you a back massage."

She was back on top.

She slid the chocolates into her bag and the card into her pocket, but clutched the teddy bear and bouquet in plain sight, strutting out of the classroom without saying a word, the girls following mindlessly. Around her, people stared and nudged one another. Behind her, the girls gossiped away, calling out to the other cheerleaders from other classes "They're from Steven!" "You know, Steven Hyde?!" "Her boyfriend!" "He's so romantic!" "He wrote a card!" "We all nearly cried it was so _cute_!"

As a swarm, with Jackie as the queen bee, they rounded the corner to Jackie's locker. Already, Jackie could hear people up ahead – cheer members and ordinary, unpopular folk alike – muttering between themselves "Apparently she's dating Steven Hyde?" "And he wrote her a love poem." "In a _massive_ pink, glittery pop-up card." "With a million flowers!" "And mountain of chocolates!" "And a ginormous teddy bear!" "He's so sweet!"

As Jackie flicked open her locker and shoved all her books into it because, let's be honest, she wasn't going to do any work over the weekend that she could get some nerd to do for her Monday morning, a buzz grew around her, followed by severe hushing. Someone, probably Kimberly, nudged her.

"Hey there puddin' pop…" Courtney teased lightly. "Come to woo your 'little baby doll' some more?"

Jackie spun around to see Hyde sauntering towards her, shooting Courtney a weird look while attempting to look aloof and unabashed. But she could sense his tension.

"Jackie, what the…" he started to say, but Jackie threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, borderline violently.

"Oh, puddin' pop, thank you so much, that was so adorable, you really didn't have to do all this just for me. Just because we're dating now." She babbled at him meeting his gaze and staring him down the whole time.

"Puddin' pop?" Hyde looked disgusted as realisation dawned on his face. "Is that meant to be me? Jackie what is…" His sharp, beady eyes clocked the flowers, the teddy bear, the chocolates poking out of Jackie's now practically empty handbag. She could almost hear the greasy cogs whirring in his pea brain as he connected the adoring faces of the on-looking girls to the glint of triumph in Jackie's eyes.

He stared at her.

He had to say, he would've been almost impressed.

Almost.

If he wasn't so mightily pissed off.

Jackie's faux-innocent beam widened as she picked up on that fact.

Man, how did she even know – he was a closed book, impossible to read.

"What's wrong puddin' pop?" she whispered mockingly in his ear. "I thought you liked it when I fought dirty?"

"Whatever…" Hyde forced out, trying so damn hard to just relax already. Man, why was he so… twitchy? He was turning into bleedin' Forman.

Jackie raised her eyebrow sceptically and kissed him slowly and sensually on his cheek, pressing herself against him as she did so, before pulling away with a giggle and a flip of her hair.

Her work here was done.

"Let's go girls." She commanded and sashayed away, the squad grabbing her stuff and following behind her in perfect formation, twittering all the way.

Hyde watched her go, seething. He point-blank refused out of principle to look at Jackie's butt as it swayed down the corridor into the distance.

He was somewhat proud to say he only failed once.

Ok, damn it, fine, twice.

He looked down when he realised there was something in his hand: a repulsive, _pink_ envelope. With a sense of dread he hadn't felt since he realised his parents had left him for good, he opened it and read the contents.

Ugh.

He almost dropped it with disgust. He almost felt sick. People actually thought he – _he –_ had said those words.

He pushed down the feelings.

Bottled them right up and screwed the cap on tight.

This was war.


	5. Scene 5

Hyde was still mildly irritated a whole hour later.

That never happened.

He'd even punched Kelso several times in the stomach for no reason whatsoever, and all that did was bring him down from slightly angry to somewhat annoyed.

What was happening to him?

He scowled and slumped further onto the sofa. He couldn't even bring himself to join in with Eric and Fez's assault of Kelso's latest girl exploits. Damn, he was missing out on so many burns just waiting to be made.

This was all Jackie's fault.

The door to the basement opened, and Donna walked in, closely followed by… well, speak of the devil.

Literally.

Immediately, Hyde forced a lazy smile onto his face and reached up to slap Kelso's new, enormous shoulder-pads. "Hey, Kelso," he scoffed. "Did your mummy sew your floatation arm-bands into your jacket?"

It was weak, but it made Forman laugh.

Sometimes, man, thank god for Forman.

Kelso jumped out of harms reach as he retorted "At least I've got a mum."

Hyde half-heartedly jerked forward as if he was gonna lunge at Kelso, and Kelso screamed.

Hyde forced himself to chuckle.

"You guys are such babies. Both of you." Donna sighed, making a beeline for Eric.

Jackie followed – a little frustrated that Hyde clearly didn't seem as affected by the show she'd put on at school as she'd hoped – and headed past the sofa towards the lawn chair.

Hyde, feeling antsy and immature, stuck out his leg to try and trip her up.

She stopped, sniffed the air. "Ew, what is that smell?" she heard herself proclaiming childishly. "Oh, it's just Hyde." She internally groaned at how lame that was.

Something in Hyde clicked; a vague memory from two nights ago, the night that had started this whole uproar, of Little Miss 'I'd rather walk' calling him 'scruffy and smelly and poor'. He grinned, a cunning plan forming in his mind.

"Ouch, _baby doll_ ," Hyde grabbed her by the waist and tugged her in towards him. "Why have you gotta be so hurtful?"

"Oh ha ha, Hyde." Jackie sneered and tried to pull free. "Why have you gotta be so… weird?"

"Oh but, _honey-bunny,"_ Hyde yanked her in harder so she stumbled and fell on his lap. "You love me, just the way I am so why would I change?" he murmured into her ear, holding on tightly as she struggled to get off.

"Is anyone else here super confused?" Fez's quiet voice asked from somewhere that seemed like a long way away to the two of them.

"Hyde! Get off of me!" Jackie hissed.

"What's wrong, _princess_ , can't handle your smelly, scruffy _boyfriend_ being all up close and personal?" he breathed in her face.

"Ew! Yes! It might be infectious!" Jackie squealed and writhed to get away, causing Hyde to simply wrap his arms all the way around her, pinning her to his chest. She refused to notice how strong his biceps felt, or how one of his large, masculine hands was resting on her waist, or how his broad chest was comfortable against her back. Nope. She didn't notice a single one of these things. "Ugh! I'm gonna smell so gross now!"

Hyde just shrugged and said "All your fault, baby doll" nonchalantly, trying his hardest to act as though he didn't have a thin, tiny cheerleader on his lap with her butt pressed against his…

Blood rushed somewhere it really shouldn't be rushing right now and he loosened his grip on her, allowing Jackie to escape.

"Hah!" She stuck her tongue out at him, smoothing down her clothes and hair.

"I let you do that." Hyde snapped back. "Got sick of you being so close to me."

They glared at each other.

Eric's voice broke through their hostile silence. "Is anyone going to tell me what the _hell_ is going on?"

The pair, only just realising that everyone else in the basement had been watching them the whole time, blushed.

Donna rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't heard yet, it's _all_ over school. Jackie and Hyde are Point Place's new _it_ couple."

"WHAT?!" Kelso, Fez and Eric yelled in sync as Jackie stumbled her way over to the lawn chair and turned her nose away from them all.

Hyde zoned out as Donna prattled on, filling out his ignorant friends on all the crap they had somehow managed to miss. Instead, he focused on keeping his expression neutral and un-fussed. Zen.

He refused to acknowledge the pounding in his chest or the fact that his hands were sweaty.

That meant nothing. _Nothing!_ He was a teenage boy for god's sakes! It was only natural!

A little while later and the gang, tired after Donna's long rendition of the events of the past few days, decided they would all head to The Hub for a sugar rush and a carb binge on candy and chips. As they were heading out the door, Hyde, now he was sure he had his bodily reactions under control (and to prove that last time had been a fluke), casually grabbed Jackie's ass.

She let out a surprised squeal, jumping a mile in the air as she slapped his hand away sharply.

Hyde just grinned as she marched away with her arms crossed.

There.

Everything back to normal.

And he was winning once again.


	6. Scene 6

Jackie couldn't lie, her stomach was performing somersaults worthy of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' grand finale as she strutted into school the following morning.

Her latest manoeuvre was downright daring. God knows it had required something close to a military mission to achieve it, with Fez as her double agent, but this was war and sometimes a woman had to utilise somewhat dubious tactics in order to get what she wanted – by which she meant bribing Fez with candy until he finally caved under the sheer weight of chocolate bars she was thrusting into his hands. (It had taken a fair few to get him to stop demanding the payment for his assignment was her flashing him instead.)

But if Hyde thought that a little bit of name calling and hands-on business was gonna stop her then, man, was he wrong.

Damn, when had she started saying _'man';_ if she didn't know any better she'd have thought she was starting to sound like Hyde.

Anyway, where was she? Oh yes.

This was war.

And so she put on her war paint – pink lips, rosy cheeks, glittering eyeshadow – and strolled down the corridor of Point Place High as though she wore a Led Zeppelin t-shirt combined with a mini-skirt and pink, fluffy cardigan every day.

And not just any Led Zeppelin t-shirt: Hyde's _favourite_ t-shirt. Possibly the only item of clothing that he cared about in the whole world. Hell, probably the only _thing_ he cared about in the whole world.

She waved to her fellow cheerleaders who waved back and immediately started whispering away to each other. Their harmonious giggles followed her down the corridor, carrying beautiful, melodious words such as "Isn't Led Zeppelin adorable with pink?" and "Hard rock bands are so cute!"

Turning a corner, she saw him. Not a surprise really seeing as she was heading for his locker.

"Hi puddin' pop," Jackie said sweetly.

Hyde swung around. "Oh hi _baby doll_ …" he started, but stopped instantly and stared. "What do you think you're wearing?" he growled.

"Oh this?" Jackie simpered. "I hope you don't mind, I borrowed your favourite top. But seeing as I'm your _favourite_ girl and you wuv me," she batted her lashes as she did her baby voice mockingly "I didn't think you would mind."

Perfectly timed, Kimberly swooped past and called over to Jackie as she did "Cute top, Jackie! It looks so pretty!"

"Thanks Kim!" Jackie replied airily and turned back to Hyde with a sickeningly angelic smile.

At least, she attempted a sickeningly angelic smile, but in all honesty, she feared there was far too much gloating triumph in her eyes for it to be wholly believable.

Ah well, her mission 'Make Hyde Mad' was a success, judging by the throbbing vein in Hyde's forehead.

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she began to flounce past him.

Quick as a flash, Hyde's hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, spinning her around with it and slammed her – somewhat harder than he had intended but to hell was he going to apologise – against the lockers.

To her credit, she didn't even wince.

He stepped in close to her and hissed "You take that off right now."

"If you want to get me to undress, Hyde, at least buy me dinner first." Jackie teased.

"Off. Now." Hyde clearly wasn't in the mood for playing games.

"But why?" Jackie opened her eyes as wide as they could possibly go as she stuck out her lower lip.

"If I hear another person calling Led Zeppelin _'cute'_ I'm gonna punch someone." Hyde snarled.

"But it _is_ so cute with this little pink cardigan, don't you think?" Jackie taunted.

"You are ruining my reputation." Hyde stated. "Who the fuck is gonna give me their lunch money now?"

"You ruined mine!" Jackie retorted.

"Yeah but yours is stupid!"

"So is yours!"

"Take it off."

"No."

"I said take it off!" Hyde's hand slammed against the locker against his volition.

"Make me!" Jackie was aware her face was growing red, but for once in her entire life, she didn't care. This was too much fun to worry about looks.

Wow. Did she really just think that?

A silence fell on them as they just stared at each other, breathing heavily, faces far closer together than they had realised, definitely closer than they had ever been before.

Suddenly, a deep, male voice sounded from over Hyde's shoulder. "Miss Burkhart? Mr Hyde?" Mr Brown, the deputy principle asked. "Is everything alright?"

They pulled apart to realise something of a crowd had formed around them.

"Yes. Fine." Hyde replied, stepping back from Jackie but not breaking eye contact.

"Jackie?" Mr Brown pressed.

"Absolutely fine, sir." Jackie echoed quickly, smoothing down her hair and pretending not to be surprised by how even her voice sounded.

"Right. Good." Mr Brown mumbled uncertainly, but carried on down the corridor. "Out of my way, people, nothing to see here." He commanded.

"This isn't over." Hyde muttered viciously and stormed off down the corridor, forcing himself to slow down to an unbothered swagger by the time he reached the end.

"I think it is." Jackie shouted back, uncharacteristically unconcerned by what her 'friends' thought of her. She beamed at them as though nothing had happened, then she too set off down the corridor towards her first lesson, ignoring their mindless, pointless questions and instead fixating on the way that Hyde had looked at her when she'd said 'make me' and wondering why it simultaneously made her want to puke and sing from the hilltops. And wondering why she felt the same whenever she wondered what Hyde was planning next.


End file.
